16volt record release party = awesome night

April 21, 2011

I had a blast last night. My friend, Zach, invited me to the 16Volt record release party at the Fez, a small, local venue in downtown Portland. I was a bit skeptical since most of the acts consisted of local industrial artists that I’d never heard of before; but for $10, I figured it couldn’t hurt to check them out, and I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

The opening act, Dead Animal Assembly Plant, kicked off the night with a decent set. The members looked like a bunch of demented butchers in their blood-spattered aprons, which complimented their raw, meaty sound. The singer even told a pretty good serial killer joke, which went something like: “A serial killer kidnaps a little girl and brings her into some deep, dark woods. The little girl says, ‘Gee, it’s dark and creepy here, I’m scared.’ The killer replies ‘You’re scared? Imagine how I feel, I have to walk back to the car alone.'” I thought it was funny, at least.

After their set, Zach offered to buy the singer a drink, who came by later to give us some free DAAP buttons, which I thought was pretty cool.

After DAAP came Dead When I Found Her, which was the main reason why we were there, Zach having heard a couple of their songs before. I really enjoyed their old school, industrial sound, which is reminiscent of early Skinny Puppy. I was especially surprised by their cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” which is probably the only time I’ve ever enjoyed listening to a Phil Collins song.

Afterwards, I ran into Mike, the singer/guitar player of DWIFH, near the bar and offered to buy him a drink. We ended up talking for quite a while, mostly about music and the direction he was trying to go with his. Zach was also lucky enough to run into on him the stairs, and got to talk to him until 16Volt started playing.

16Volt came out and played one hell of a set. Out of the three, they were the heaviest, leaning more towards the metal-end of the industrial spectrum. By this time, I was fairly inebriated, and I couldn’t help but start jumping up and down and banging my head like a fucking idiot. Zach and I tried to get the rest of the crowd going, jumping and pushing each other around, but the only one who joined in was some guy who we later found out may have been Erica Dunham’s (i.e., Unter Null) fiancé. (Meaning that the girl I was bumping into the whole time could have been Erica Dunham herself!)

For some reason, we didn’t stick around to see if anyone from 16Volt came out, but we ran into Mike from DWIFH again outside and talked to him some more. All in all, I’m pretty impressed with the local industrial scene so far, and the show was more than worth the $10.

After the show, we were both hungry, so we ended up walking to the Original Hotcake House on Powell, where I tore up a huge plate of eggs and pancakes at 3 o’clock in the morning. (There may or may not have been some public urination along the way; all I’m saying is that it wouldn’t hurt to have more public restrooms available for Christ’s sake.) I can’t remember the last time I saw a kick-ass show and had a crazy, all-night adventure, but it was definitely long over due.